Former Sen. Joker Arroyo. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—A “supreme” President is in the offing in the administration’s attempt to undermine the Supreme Court, former Sen. Joker Arroyo has warned.
Arroyo said on Tuesday the “overriding question” was whether the Aquino administration would abide by the Supreme Court’s final ruling should it turn down the government’s motion for reconsideration on its unanimous decision invalidating the core activities of the Disbursement Acceleration Program.
If the Supreme Court rejected the motion for reconsideration and the administration would defy this, “that would dismantle the balance of power under the Constitution which is anchored on the co-equality of the three branches, the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judiciary,” said Arroyo.
As things stand, the President looks to be sidelining the judiciary and undermining the Constitution, according to Arroyo.
“As the picture looks presently, the President’s policy is to discredit the judiciary and render it impotent, subjugate further Congress, and make the President supreme. Yet, by his oath of office, the President is duty bound to preserve and defend the Constitution,” he said in a statement.
“Goodbye Constitution. Hurrah to Presidential autocracy,” he added.
According to Arroyo, the President makes a policy statement when he speaks, and Mr. Aquino practically declared a state of war with the Supreme Court in his national address attacking its ruling on its savings impounding mechanism.
He also said that even before this policy statement, the administration has launched a “massive encirclement attack on the High Court.”
He noted that Congress has threatened to do away with the Judicial Development Fund to impair its fiscal autonomy, which has been mandated by the Constitution.
The Commission on Audit has also made public the magistrates’ earnings “to embarrass them,” while the Bureau of Internal Revenue issued a memo order to tax a hitherto untaxable income of employees of the judiciary from the JDF, he added.
The Supreme Court is not powerless, according to Arroyo, and its potent weapon is its constitutional duty to rule on the constitutionality of acts or measures, including those of the President.
“The President does not question that power of the Supreme Court, but questions the Justices’ collective capacity and integrity to exercise that power. Such Presidential stance undermines the Supreme Court,” he said.
Arroyo warned the judiciary could find itself crippled because of the executive.
“If the President expresses lack of faith in the Supreme Court, who will? It has no armed forces to protect itself, or the police to enforce its judgments,” he said.
President Aquino addressed the nation in a televised address on Monday to defend the DAP, in a strongly-worded speech described as combative and viewed as warning to the Supreme Court justices.
Mr. Aquino had said he did not want to reach a point where two equal branches of government would clash, and a third branch would have to step in.
He insisted on the wisdom of the DAP and harped on the benefits it gave to the country. He also said the court overlooked the administration’s argument that the Administrative Code of 1987 gave it authority to transfer savings for other projects, and it did not limit this to one department or branch of government.
He also bristled at attempts to compare the DAP to the graft-ridden priority development assistance fund, a lump sum allocation for lawmakers’ projects. But a portion of the DAP was also set aside for the pet projects of a select group of Congress members.
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